Cry. Definitely cry. Stuart Birnbaum Department of Geological Sciences University of Texas at San Antonio One UTSA Circle San Antonio, TX 78249-0663 210-458-5449 (voice) 210-458-4469 (fax) ________________________________ From: GEOEDUCATION RESEARCH INTEREST GROUP [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Bhattacharyya, Juk Sent: Wednesday, March 05, 2008 9:51 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: good visualizations of the Earth's magnetic field? I was following the informative discussion on the listserv today morning when one of my undergraduate teaching assistants dropped by... someone in her physics class asked the prof. a question about geomagnetic reversal, and the professor responded that "there is no evidence of the earth's magnetic field ever switching." My student did not know whether to laugh or to cry... and at this point I don't know either. What makes matters worse is that this physics professor is a "magnet guy" so his opinions will be taken at face value in this particular respect. This professor doesn't believe in evolution as well... somehow that doesn't surprise me. I only hope all these visualization resources will help me counter this misconception when these students enroll in my intro geology course. Sigh juk ************************************************** "It is precisely for this that I love geology. It is infinite and ill-defined: like poetry, it immerses itself in mysteries and floats among them without drowning. It does not manage to lay bare the unknown, but it flaps the surrounding veils to and fro, and every so often gleams of light escape and dazzle one's vision." R. Töpffer, Nouvelles genevoises (1841) Dr. Prajukti (juk) Bhattacharyya Assistant professor Department of Geography and Geology Upham Hall 119 800 Main St. Whitewater, WI 53190 Ph: (262) 472-5257 Email: [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> ************************************************ ________________________________ From: GEOEDUCATION RESEARCH INTEREST GROUP [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of tibi marin Sent: Wednesday, March 05, 2008 8:50 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: good visualizations of the Earth's magnetic field? Thanks Cathy very informative and useful not just for Tom but for us as well. Have a nice Day Tibi Tibi Marin "Today the human race is a single twig on the tree of life, a single species on a single planet. Our condition can thus only be described as extremely fragile, endangered by forces of nature currently beyond our control, our own mistakes, and other branches of the wildly blossoming tree itself. Looked at this way, we can then pose the question of the future of humanity on Earth, in the solar system, and in the galaxy from the standpoint of both evolutionary biology and human nature. The conclusion is straightforward: Our choice is to grow, branch, spread and develop, or stagnate and die." <http://www.sylviaengdahl.com/space/images/cleardot.gif> Robert Zubrin, Entering Space, 1999 ----- Original Message ---- From: Cathy Manduca <[log in to unmask]> To: [log in to unmask] Sent: Tuesday, March 4, 2008 4:45:03 PM Subject: Re: good visualizations of the Earth's magnetic field? Here are a variety of approaches to this: http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/visualization/collections/map_direction.html and here is a visualizaiton of model data: http://www.psc.edu/science/glatzmaier.html Cathy On Mar 4, 2008, at 3:01 PM, Eric J. Pyle wrote: If you wish to see an idealized version (without the influence of the solar wind), you can use Celestia with the magnetic field add-on. The basic program can be found at http://www.shatters.net/celestia and the addon at http://www.celestiamotherlode.com <http://www.celestiamotherlode.com/> . There are a couple of tweaks to the add-on that allow you to show (or not) various field lines and particle pathways. Regards, Eric Pyle ---- Original message ---- Date: Tue, 4 Mar 2008 12:13:30 -0800 From: Tom-Pierre Frappé <[log in to unmask]> Subject: good visualizations of the Earth's magnetic field? To: [log in to unmask] >Hi all, > >I am teaching an online course ( university level, 3rd year). My >students are having a lot of difficulty visualizing the geomagnetic >field, and making sense of how the declination/inclination changes >spatially. > >Does anyone knows of good online visualization for the magnetic field of >the Earth? > >3D would be best, and interactive simulations would be ideal, but I >might be wishing for the moon... you can email me your suggestions off >list, I'll compile them and send a summary back to the list-serve. > >many thanks for your suggestions! >Tom-Pierre > >-- >Tom-Pierre Frappé >EOS-Science Education Initiative / ECAC & EOSC114 Administrator >Dept. Earth and Ocean Sciences >University of British Columbia >6339 Stores Road >Vancouver, B.C. >V6T 1Z4, Canada > >Phone:(604)822-3063 >fax: (604)822-6047 >[log in to unmask] > > Dr. Cathryn A Manduca Director, Science Education Resource Center Executive Director, National Association of Geoscience Teachers Carleton College Northfield, MN 55057 507 646-7096 [log in to unmask] serc.carleton.edu <http://serc.carleton.edu/> ________________________________ Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your homepage. <http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=51438/*http:/www.yahoo.com/r/hs>